The Media at Its Finest

As news leaked today of a gaffe on the part of Mr. Obama, news outlets responded in varying and telling ways. Perhaps this observation is simply a reinforcement of the adage “If you’re watching it, it’s for you,” that we seem to read in just about post and/or comment associated with Alone’s writing but I felt it might be interesting to point out.

Mr. Obama leans in to let Medvedev know the scoop on his missile defence policy, that being a hands off policy until the election. I first read of this on BBC’s website; the title was: Obama and Medvedev caught in unguarded missile remarks. The article can be found here and it goes on to quote the President and provide readers with some context for the statement. There seemed to be no politicizing of the matter, although, the issue is certainly politically charged. No real side was taken.

Jump to CNN. The title of its article concerning the statement is as follows: First on CNN: Obama’s open mic a Republican open season. If you’re reading it, it’s for you. The article went on to feature Romney tweets about the President’s remarks and other gems.

I looked to find a Fox News article outlining how Mr. Obama and Rootin Tootin Putin are planning a lavish party in honor of Lenin but I couldn’t come up with anything. For the sake of full disclosure, the title of this article is: During missile defense talk, Obama tells Medvedev he’ll have ‘more flexibility’ after election. There is no mention of the Romney tweets. I suppose the Fox conservatives feel that the statement, itself, is damning enough for them.

I have no agenda one way or another on this issue – I think the President did what any President during an election year would do. The media, however (CNN in particular), has set up this kind of event to spur the brand of contentious, partisan politics Americans crave. Who do you think used the shotgun mic to get the quotes? This kind of reporting is necessary for ratings – it brings in the wankers that follow cable news and political pundits without realizing that masturbation is more fun when watching porn with hot lesbians than with Rachel Maddow.

2 Responses to The Media at Its Finest

Fox might also have kept quiet because they figured that Russia/Putin/Medve-who? just aren’t central figures in the melodrama they’re producing. Maybe they’d prefer to keep it to the known characters dealing with known maguffins, like taxes, abortion, health care, entitlements. CNN might have a few more characters in their production, so they can afford to branch out without alienating their viewers – kind of like the Mad Men episodes with Draper on the road/visiting Anna (Fox would be more like the old Addams Family where absolutely every episode occurred in their house with only stock characters changing).
Comparing either of those to the Beeb is like comparing Broadway to Leicester Square: same show biz, but different audiences paying for different things. The BBC is even state-sponsored, which means a) they’re communists and b) nobody is going to call Washington about CNN’s reporting, but someone from Washington or Moscow might just call Whitehall.

My first thought is CNN uses its position as the “neutral” channel to present a “balanced view” by throwing red meat to both sides. If their comment section is outrage divided equally between liberals and conservatives then they played their hand (and page view strategy) correctly.

The BBC is presenting itself as the alternative to the Fleet Street gossip rags, so they’ll throw less red meat because (a) they know the gossip rags will and (b) they’ll get the audience who likes to think they’re disgusted with the gossip approach to news. The US equivalent would be PBS, not CNN.